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[quote user="nanaimo73"]I was thinking more along the lines of 5 platforms on 6 trucks, that could be increased to 6 platforms on 7 trucks, or decreased to 4 platforms on 5 trucks.[/quote] Now I get it.  So what you'd have is, say, a normal 3 pack spine car which is 3 platforms on 4 trucks.  The two trucks on the coupler end would be a hybrid of articulation and a normal drawbar shaft.  When in 3 pack mode, you just stick a coupler into the drawbar shaft, but when you want to add platforms you plug the additions into the articulation parts? I'll just think as I go here.  What if instead we have a 3-pack spine car, but with single axle bogies on the end units, thus a 1+2+2+1 set of trucks (with the 2's as normal articulated two axle trucks.)  The additional units are all 1+1, but when you add the additions to the 3-pack (let's say we want a 5 pack), you make it so the two facing single axle trucks become a double articulated two axle truck.  To do this, you need a way to lock the single axle truck inline with the car's spine body when in stand alone mode, but allow the two single axle trucks facing each other to become a functional two axle articulated truck when connected together.  You'd do this by releasing the locking mechanism which holds the truck inline (there would be a centerplate directly over the truck to allow the truck to swing free when connected to the facing truck), and then directly lock the drawbars of the two facing trucks together so they'll act as a single two axle truck, albeit with a truck wheelbase that is longer than the normal two axle truck wheelbase.  The corresponding car bodies would each pivot on the centerplate of the home axle set. Or were you thinking more in the line of using bi-modal technology as a way of adding the extra platforms?  Then you'd have a normal 3 pack in 2+2+2+2 configuration, but have extra Mark V type trucks and bi-modal platforms that are added as de facto car additions to make whatever type of slack free multiple unit car configurations as you like.  Something like that?
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